What will the Browns do with their other picks in the NFL Draft this week?
What picks? You mean they have other picks?
Well, yes. Yes, they do.
That’s what happens when you have two choices at the top of the draft, at Nos. 1 and 4 overall. So much emphasis is placed upon – so much focus is given to – those selections that it’s as if the other picks don’t exist, or at least don’t matter.
That’s understandable. Of course, it is. Those first two picks are so highly valued and can do so much for a team if utilized properly, that everybody hones in on them – and nothing else.
But that would be a mistake – a big mistake – for Browns fans. Keep in mind that in addition to those first-round picks, the Browns have the first choice in the second round (No. 33), the third choice (No. 35) and the final choice (No. 64). Thus, they have five picks in the top 64.
It’s the Cleveland Browns’ draft. Everybody else is just participating in it.
It is, especially, those two selections at the top of the second round that are the most interesting, for while five picks in the top 64 are really cool, four picks in the top 35 are even cooler – much, much cooler. They give the Browns a golden opportunity to take the haul they get from the first round and add to it significantly. They could make this not just a good draft or even a great one, but a historic one for the team.
What will the Browns do with those first two second-rounders? Who knows?
But here’s what they could do:
*Put No. 33 or 35, along with another pick, or possibly even Nos. 33 and 35 together, as part of a package to move back up into the first round to get a player they really covet. That intrigues me – a lot – and I think they will try hard to do that. In fact, I think they will do it.
The Browns have enough young players already. They need dramatic, franchise-changing young players – as many as they can possibly add – to get this rebuilding effort jump-started, and making a bold move like that would be the way to do it.
So while we’ll all watch with much interest what the Browns do at Nos. 1 and 4, don’t go to bed Thursday night until the entire first round is over because they may not be through.
